Love, Alice
by Ava Miranda Dakedavra
Summary: Many people only know her as Alice Longbottom. But she was somebody before that, and she was somebody worth knowing.
1. Chapter 1: Porcupines and Blowfish

**I'm trying something out. So I will have fun with it.**

* * *

"D'you ever wonder if porcupines ever get really lonely and want hugs, but nobody can ever give them hugs?"

"_Alice_," her dorm mates groaned, shoving heads under pillows or blankets or both.

It wasn't often that Alive Prewitt asked these "deep" questions in the middle of the night, nor was it sparingly. She asked them every once in a while, and often they were coupled with five or six of these questions before she nodded off to sleep, just like Lily, Mary and Hestia.

She was only twelve, having been at Hogwarts for a year already, and had actually been saving up these questions over the summer for when she got back to school to share with her friends. It seemed, however, that once she'd remembered them a month in, they weren't all that enthusiastic, having hoped that it would've stopped at the end of their first year.

Alice was rather small and short, giving a cute appearance with her short, cropped hair held back by her ears and her big, brown eyes and seemingly permanent smile. She was talkative and rather strange, but made perfect friends with the other girls in her dorm, so that she wasn't completely alone like she was afraid she'd be.

Alice's parents didn't have much money. They were constantly fighting and Alice envied her friends for having parents who could hold a civil conversation with one another. She wasn't even surprised when they wrote to her when she started school and said they were getting a divorce. She kind of saw it coming.

What she hadn't seen coming was an owl swooping in from the window and presenting a letter to her.

And she was really glad it did.

"But, no, if I was a porcupine – " Alice began again.

"You're not," Mary muttered under her pillow, gripping the ends over her head.

"But if I _was_," Alice stressed the importance of this.

"If you were we'd all risk getting needles stuck in us and hug you," Lily mumbled, "Now go to sleep."

Alice gave a happy smile and snuggled underneath her covers, nearly dozing off before another idea came to mind, "What if I was a blowfish?"

The three groaned loudly at what was to be yet another long night.

* * *

**A prologue of sorts! Hope you liked it!**


	2. Chapter 2: Adventure is Out There

Alice stared down at her cauldron, pursing her lips as her Potions partner eyed her worriedly.

"Uhm," he began, "Alice? Are you okay?"

"Hmm?" she blinked, looking up at him before smiling, "Oh, I'm fine. Just thinking."

Remus Lupin nodded slowly, adding in a handful of a powdery substance before continuing, "Can I ask what about?"

"Eh," she made a face, "My parents are getting divorced in a week."

"Oh," he blinked in surprise, "I'm sorry, I didn't – "

"Its fine, I've known since first year," she waved it away, "I was just thinking about who I'd live with this summer. Maybe I can get them to let me stay with an aunt or something. I wonder if I have any."

Remus stared at her for a moment before shaking his head, "Alice, has anyone told you that you're weird?"

"Yeah, you're like the umpteenth person to tell me so," she smiled before shrugging, "I'm used to it."

He gave her a grin, "I'm glad you are, because I don't think anybody else is."

"Hah," Alice smiled a little bit wider, "Good point!"

* * *

"I can't wait until we're thirteen and we can go to Hogsmeade," Alice pouted, setting her chin on the table and pouting at the rest in her year and the first years. It seemed rather degrading being forced to stay inside the castle while everybody else got to leave and see the outside world.

Hestia patted her head, making her sigh loudly, as this was about to be another 'now-listen-to-your-momma-Hestia' speeches. "Alice, we're far too young to go roaming around outside the school grounds. What would happen if we fell in a ditch somewhere and nobody was around to help us? We aren't nearly equipped with magic to know how to defend ourselves, and we're small enough to get squished by all of the crowds there. It's best if we stay here."

Alice nodded for a few moments, during which Lily and Mary exchanged glances and smiles, before she snorted, "No, forget that, I want to go to Hogsmeade." Hestia huffed at her as she shrugged, "I'm not even sorry, Tia."

"Yeah, Tia," Sirius said as he slid onto the couch next to her, making Mary's lips turn into a very thin line, and her eyebrows come down over her eyes, "Hogsmeade is fun – why shouldn't she go?"

"Shut it, Black," Mary huffed as Lily held a pillow over her head, awaiting the pestering of James Potter.

"Why? What did I do?" he blinked innocently.

"You sound as if you've been and you could get her to go, when we all know you can't," Lily supplied.

"Oh, but I have, and I can," he grinned.

"Really?" Alice perked up, bouncing on her seat, "Tell me, tell me, tell me – "

"Ahh," Sirius stopped her, shaking his head, "Nope, it's not ready yet."

"What isn't ready yet?" Alice asked eagerly.

"Well, that would require your help," he stated with a grin.

"Don't do it, Alice," Lily frowned, "He and Potter are always up to no good."

"And we swear by it," he grinned wider, "But, really, Alice, we would rather like your help."

"Okay," Alice stood, her friends gaping at her as Sirius beamed.

"Really?" he asked, standing as well.

"Sure! I like helping people," she smiled as Mary looked blankly at Lily, still with her mouth open, as if waiting for this news to seep in. "So, what do you need help with?"

"Come on," he said, grabbing her wrist and towing her out of the Common Room.

"I want a new dorm mate!" Mary called out, loud enough that the Gryffindor tower heard, but not so that Sirius and Alice heard.

* * *

"We're making a map that shows all of the secret passages and hallways of Hogwarts," James explained to her, "And we know for a fact that this statue leads into the cellar in Honeyduke's – "

"We found some notes stuck in a crevice in a wall of an unused secret passageway," Remus supplied quickly.

" – but we don't know the password. And the hag doesn't talk," James continued, frowning at the hunched hag.

"And what are you expecting me to do with it?" Alice asked curiously, but not unkindly.

"We were hoping you'd stumble upon the answer," Sirius said, "We'd really appreciate it, and let you use the passage all you want."

She pursed her lips, "It'd take time."

"That's fine – we're certainly in no rush," James smiled as Peter chewed on the side of his thumb, still not quite comfortable with talking to Alice.

"Alright – I'll check on the statue's backstory, usually when they're passages they set the password to something they relate to," she stated.

"And how will you find that out?" Remus asked.

"Well, there's this big old ancient book called _Hogwarts: A History_," she smiled, "It's got loads of useful information, but not too many people read it. Say it's dull and boring."

"Well…alright then," Sirius blinked.

"Don't worry boys, I should be able to figure out the password soon enough," she said before tilting her head, "What were you going to call it?"

"What?" James questioned.

"Your map," she explained, "All good maps have names."

"Oh, well, we haven't really thought about it," Remus shrugged.

"You should call it the Marauders' Map," she said, rocking back and forth on her heels.

"What?" Sirius questioned before snorting, "Alice, that's a stupid name."

"Well I like it," she stuck her tongue out before shrugging, "Whatever, see you." And with that, she turned around and headed for the library.


End file.
